Yes, it's easy to visit Amazon or other online stores and purchase great software. However, many of us never need the sophistication (and complexity) provided by many of the applications out there and there are often low cost (or even free) options to some of the more
common and popular applications. The purpose of this page is to bring them to your attention and to provide you with links that you can
follow to find out more. All of the links will open in a new window or tab - depending on your browser

If there is software or services that I have missed off, please let me know (links@159.org.uk) and I'll happily add them to the list.

Free Software (or less expensive) than the "Big Box" brands
Open Office	This office suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet, a presentation tool, a graphics package and database. It's free to download, free to use on as many computers as you like and free to pass on to others. It's really free. It's also able to open the majority of documents created in that other great office suite, Microsoft Office (although the latter is not free) and can save files in formats that Microsoft Office can open. We often say that something is too good be true. This is good and it is true.
Star Office	Based on Open Office (and downloaded from Sun - the developers of Open Office) Star Office ads an element of support to the package. It costs $69.95 although for this you get a license that allows you to install the software on up to 5 PCs) and includes 3 free support incidents during the first 2 months of ownership. There is also more online support available.
Zoho	An incredibly varied range of tools and applications made available online. They include a word processor, spreadsheet, project management tools, CRM, online invoicing, database, organiser, email - -the list goes on. Many are free and those that aren't are paid for by a low cost licence that is per user per month.
Google Docs	Web based word processor, spreadsheet, calendar and presentation application. Free to use and compatible with other popular Office suites.
Mapping / Navigation	Need to know where somewhere is, or how to get there or what the traffic is like? Then have a look at Google Maps and Google Earth. A word of caution though - Google Earth will suck your time from you like almost nothing else this side of YouTube.
Graphic Tools
Picassa	A way to manage all of your digital pictures together with some simple editing tools (red eye remover, blemish remover, crop), turn them in to movies and slide shows and a web based tool to allow you to launch your own online gallery to share your pictures with family and friends.
Flickr	An online photo gallery. Upload your photos and share with friends, family or the whole interweb if you wish.
Picnik	A free online tool to carry out simple edits to your photographs. Simply upload to Picnik and away you go.
Paint	Free software download. A simple yet powerful photo editing program.
GIMP	The Gnu Image Manipulation Program. A free raster graphics editor. This is an incredibly powerful digital graphics and photo editing and manipulation tool - available under an Open Source license that means it is free to download and use.
Sketch Up	If you need to produce 3D images and models, you should have a look at SketchUp from Google. A relatively simple user interface makes it easier to learn than other 3D modelling applications and it's free to download and use.
PaintShop Photo X2	Adobe Photoshop is the professionals choice of image editor. However the full fat version costs £535.98 from Amazon, is fearsomely complex and way to powerful for the majority of visitors to this site. However - there is another way. PaintShop Pro was originally launched as a free competitor to Photoshop. However, reality bit and the developers needed to raise revenue to enable them to keep up. It first was Shareware and then it became a full retail product, as it became more powerful. If you want to edit your photographs, or other images it gives Photoshop a good run for its money and yet costs just £49.99 from Amazon.
Blogging Blogger WordPress	There are many many free tools out there to help you blog. However Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular
More Free tools
The Google Pack	This is a really great bundle of software that is free to download and use. You can download some or all of what is on offer. Included is Google Earth, Norton Security Scan (scans your PC for viruses and worms), Google Desktop (great if you don't have Vista, fine if you do have Vista and just don't like it), Mozilla Firefox web browser, Star Office, Spyware Doctor (for dealing with Adware and other nasty stuff), Picasa ( a great way to manage your digital pictures and carry out simple edits), Photos Screensaver (turn your photos in to a screen saver), Google Talk (free PC to PC voice calls and more)
email Marketing Infacta Groupmail	If you are taking your first steps in to email marketing, then you could do a lot worse than downloading the free version of Infacta's Groupmail. This tool will help you to manage your email marketing and personalise each email that you send, will help you to remain within the guidelines of the Data Protection Act and ensure that you don't share your hard won email list with your competitors. It has two key limitations - if you have a database of existing clients, you'll have to manually enter their details. If you have loads of contacts, then it's worth considering the Personal Edition which is around £60. The other draw back is that you can only send emails to groups of 100 recipients or less although this does not prevent you from sending the same email to a number of groups. There is only a limited capability to monitor the success of your campaigns but it is free and a great place to start.
Analysing your web Google Analytics	Before you set any plans in place to develop your site, you really need to know where you are so that you can set some goals for the new site. Your web host should be able to provide you with visitor statistics. However, you may also like to consider Google Analytics. This is a really great tool that you build in to your site and it monitors your visitors and will tell you how many visit your site, how long they spend on your site, how many pages they look at, where they have come from, the key words they used to find your site and a whole range of other potentially valuable information.
Webmaster Tools Google Webmaster	The free Google Webmaster Toolkit provides you with access to a range of information that relates directly to the way that Google sees and understands your site. From knowing the last time Google visited your site to where you sit in Google searches - and a whole lot more.
web building tools Kompozer SeaMonkey Amaya Trellian	Although I am not suggesting that you dash away and author your own website, these tools are great for simple editing and could be used for the development of a simple site for your business. However, I'd still advocate the employment of a professional developer for all of the advantages that they bring. (For more info on my reasoning behind this, please email me.) I have used an earlier version of Kompozer (NVU) and found it simple and straightforward. Kompozer fixes a number of bugs that were inherent in NVU - which is useful because development of NVU seems to have come to a halt.
Browsers Firefox Opera Safari Chrome	Everyone with a Windows PC has Internet Explorer (IE) installed. However it is not the only browser out there and is certainly not the best. All of the following are free to download and use and have a number of advantages over IE. Firefox is the most popular alternative, offered tabbed browsing before IE and is more secure. This means that it is a lot harder for miscreants to take control of your PC via your web browser. Firefox also has a huge range of add ons that make it more functional, add additional features and even turns it in to a graphics package. Opera is also a well known alternative to IE and has many fans. It used to be available as a free download provided you put up with a banner that brought advertising to your screen but this has now been forsaken and its now available for free download without any advertising hindrance. If you want your PC to look like a MAC, then consider downloading Apple's Safari browser. This is based on the Mozilla code that also forms the foundation of Firefox but looks totally different. Last, but by no means least, is the newest entry in to the market. Chrome by Google claims to be the first web browser that has been developed for online application use. It has a number of benefits over other browsers but is still in "Beta" meaning that it is still under development. However, I have to say that I like it and it's now my default browser.
The Full Google range	Google offers so much more than Google search, maps and earth. The whole lot is here.
Google Labs	This is the "experimental" stuff that Googlers are working on. Some of it will make the mainstream and some will fall by the wayside.

Business Websites
	Shaw Programs, for a great selection of cost effective programs all ready to go, or written to order